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Food Porn is new to me.

I heard of it only recently, but since then I have been hearing it a lot. Articles in the press, websites, blogs, advertisements. Chefs who fight against it. Chefs who defend it. Lawyers who say it's legal. Lawyers who say it isn't.

Food Porn seems to be "in," if we're to believe social media and the thousands of food photos uploaded daily to Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and others for millions of Food Porn addicts to salivate over. Then there are the countless web sites and blogs devoted to Food Porn and to uploaded photos from the food-obsessed.

It's certainly not porn as we know it (not that I really know porn).

Rather, it relates to posting pictures of food on the Internet. Appealing, provocative, sensual pictures of "exotic dishes that arouse a desire to eat, or the glorificaiton of food as a substitute for sex," according to Wikipedia, which helpfully advises not to confuse food porn with food and sexuality.

So is the further caution to stay away "if you are under legal eating age, are offended by food, or if it is illegal to view or consume food in your community.”

What triggered a flurry of coverage of Food Porn by the global media in recent weeks was a decision by a number of Michelin-starred chefs in France to take a stand against diners who photograph their food to post on social media sites.

“For some French chefs, it is an insult to their art," the Daily Telegraph recently reported. "Now a group of leading restaurateurs – among them a man with three Michelin stars – is campaigning to end the culture of "food porn" and ban smartphone photos from their restaurants.”

The anti-porn chefs have various reasons for their opposition: Taken by non-professional photographers, such photos don't do their dishes justice. The snapping is disturbing to other diners. Still more serious: The cultural, aesthetic tradition and art of dining is disrupted by the modern addiction to social media. "Should Food Porn selfies be banned in restaurants?" the Guardian asked in a poll.

For other chefs, however, the clicking of cameras - either phone or real camera - is good for business, free publicity and a means to leverage Internet-based promotions. Seen in that light, photo sharing is a mark of customer approval for the product.

Food Porn has created another catchphrase: "Camera eats first."

Love it or hate it; practice it or don't. Either way, it's clear that the new cultural obsession of pictorializing the food people eat is growing like porn and with it, the debate over this issue of etiquette and its legal implications.

"Does the activity violate the intellectual property of chefs and restaurants?" one Guardian columnist asked.

"French chefs have been joined by fellow foodies elsewhere. R.J. Cooper, of Rogue 24 in Washington, D.C., has made similar claims on Eater, stating: 'They publish food photos without your consent, which is taking intellectual property away from the restaurant.' ”